X-Message-Number: 7920
From:  (Thomas Donaldson)
Subject: Re: CryoNet #7900 - #7909
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 23:19:24 -0800 (PST)

Hi guys!

Sorry, just don't have the time now for a longer net conversation. Not even
to read what others have said.

Of course, we can use all the proofs we want. Basically I'm saying that 
a program running in a computer (no matter how elaborate and involved both
the computer and the program may be) is not functionally equivalent to 
a creature living in the world --- no matter what materials compose that
creature. One is a purely symbolic entity, with meaning given to it only
by its creators. The other is a real object which needs no one to give it
meaning for it to live. 

Incidentally, interesting things are happening in our neuroscientific
understanding of consciousness. It's turning into one of the areas I report
on in PERIASTRON. All this concerns how objects in the world might be
conscious, though, and has at best indirect bearing on whether an upload
might be conscious.

			Good night to all, and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson

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